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Topic: Favorite 3 Horror Directors

This might be damn difficult but I would really like to hear everybody's top 3 horror directors. I would also like to hear your reasons why.

I would have to say Carpenter, Craven, and Joe Dante in that order

Late 80s on Carpenter was near flawless. Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Thing, The Fog, Escape From New York, Prince of Darkness(scary as hell), and Fantasy/Comedy/Horror masterpiece Big Trouble in Little China, In the Mouth of Madness...Christine which Carpenter admits he half assed, but it still actually kinda rocks..Almost forgot Body Bags and Cigarette Burns from the Masters of Horror series. Carpenter very arguably made the most influential Horror Film ever in Halloween, and the scariest Science Fiction film with the Thing.

Wes Craven. Even the nerdiest of Horror nerds who dig extraordinarily deep into the depths of rare movies can't help but list Nightmare on Elm St. as one of their favorite Horror movies ever. Writing and Directing the Original, and co-writing the beloved Dream Warriors. Scream is just about my favorite scary movie ever, no pun intended...Scream 4 I will always love especially considering all the great looking females running around in that movie. If you want to know what female actresses were hot around 2010, just put on Scream 4. People Under the Stairs, Serpent and the Rainbow, The Hills Have Eyes. He also directed 6 scary episodes in the 80s series The Twilight Zone... The list goes on and on.

Joe Dante comes in a very close third. Lately I have just been huge on this guys movies. Piranha, The Howling, Gremlins 1 and 2, Explorers, The Burbs. Holy shit is all I can say to how fun these movies are. Almost every one of em pays homage to films before. Pirahna referencing Blue Lagoon and Jaws, Explorers being about kids who love old Sci Fi films, Gremlins 2 paying huge homage to monster films in general. Joe Dante also had a Pino Dinaggio(Carrie, Blow Out) writing the music for his films in the late 70s in early 80s, and then had Goldsmith scoring his movies after...

Re: Favorite 3 Horror Directors

1. Carpenter -- about as good a horror director as there's ever been, IMO. The sparsity with which he moves the camera, how he's able to draw your attention to both foreground and back at the same time, his slow, deliberate pans, the way he frames his shots... The guy's the total directorial package, if you ask me.

2. Romero -- he's responsible for no less than three of my all-time favorite horror flicks, but I actually think he's a much better writer than director.

3. Argento -- normally I insist on a coherent, cohesive narrative in my horror flicks but he moves his camera so well, his images are so vibrant and macabre and his soundtracks are so effective that I let him slide on his flicks not making a lick of sense.

Re: Favorite 3 Horror Directors

John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Terence Fisher

Honorable mentions - Ti West - The House of the Devil, The InnkeepersRoger Corman - The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death, The TerrorGeorge A. Romero - Dawn of the Dead etc Clive Barker - Hellraiser, NightbreedRob Zombie - I know a lot of people don't care for him, but I love him.

Re: Favorite 3 Horror Directors

Stuart Gordon: His horror films (Re-animator, From Beyond, Dolls, Dagon) are full of energy, black humor, and rank among my favorites. His Masters of Horror entries, The Black Cat Dreams in the Witch House, are among the best in that series. I even like some of his lesser work like The Pit and the Pendulum, Fortress, Castle Freak, and Robot Jox. Plus, I love his violent dramas Edmond, King of the Ants, and Stuck (horror fans will appreciate all 3 of these twisted films).

Dario Argento: As much as I appreciate his stylish "Animal Trilogy", it's his horror heyday that cemented him as one the most influential, oft imitated horror directors. Deep Red, Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebre, Phenomena, and Opera all exhibit his trend-setting use of lighting, outrageous camera work, and juxstaposing scenes of jarring violence and gore with beautiful sets design and scenery. While his best work is behind him, I also enjoyed The Stendhal Syndrome, Sleepless, Trauma, and The Mother of Tears (a flawed, but relentlessly violent conclusion to his 3 Mothers trilogy).

David Cronenberg: One of the most unconventional horror directors, Cronenberg's peculiar brand of "bod horror" always manages to make you uncomfortable and a bit nauseous. They Came From Within (Shivers), Rabid, The Brood (one of my favorites), Scanners, Videodrome (another favorite), The Dead Zone, The Fly (who doesn't love this one? Easily on par with Carepenter's The Thing as one of the best remakes of all time), and Dead Ringers are all winners from his heydey. His output since then has proved to be equally as interesting, violent, and disturbing with Naked Lunch, Crash (THIS flippin' movie...), eXistenZ, A History of Violence, and Eastern Promises all worthy of your consideration.

Re: Favorite 3 Horror Directors

Maxwell wrote:

Stuart Gordon: His horror films (Re-animator, From Beyond, Dolls, Dagon) are full of energy, black humor, and rank among my favorites. His Masters of Horror entries, The Black Cat Dreams in the Witch House, are among the best in that series. I even like some of his lesser work like The Pit and the Pendulum, Fortress, Castle Freak, and Robot Jox. Plus, I love his violent dramas Edmond, King of the Ants, and Stuck (horror fans will appreciate all 3 of these twisted films).

Dario Argento: As much as I appreciate his stylish "Animal Trilogy", it's his horror heyday that cemented him as one the most influential, oft imitated horror directors. Deep Red, Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebre, Phenomena, and Opera all exhibit his trend-setting use of lighting, outrageous camera work, and juxstaposing scenes of jarring violence and gore with beautiful sets design and scenery. While his best work is behind him, I also enjoyed The Stendhal Syndrome, Sleepless, Trauma, and The Mother of Tears (a flawed, but relentlessly violent conclusion to his 3 Mothers trilogy).

David Cronenberg: One of the most unconventional horror directors, Cronenberg's peculiar brand of "bod horror" always manages to make you uncomfortable and a bit nauseous. They Came From Within (Shivers), Rabid, The Brood (one of my favorites), Scanners, Videodrome (another favorite), The Dead Zone, The Fly (who doesn't love this one? Easily on par with Carepenter's The Thing as one of the best remakes of all time), and Dead Ringers are all winners from his heydey. His output since then has proved to be equally as interesting, violent, and disturbing with Naked Lunch, Crash (THIS flippin' movie...), eXistenZ, A History of Violence, and Eastern Promises all worthy of your consideration.

MY favourite thing about Argento is his use of violence set to beautiful backdrops. Deep Red and the scene in the castle springs to mind. It's all too well having horrors set in grimy warehouses or basements but when there is stunning beauty it makes the violence or disturbing imagery all the more effective.

Re: Favorite 3 Horror Directors

UltraViolence wrote:

Maxwell wrote:

Stuart Gordon: His horror films (Re-animator, From Beyond, Dolls, Dagon) are full of energy, black humor, and rank among my favorites. His Masters of Horror entries, The Black Cat Dreams in the Witch House, are among the best in that series. I even like some of his lesser work like The Pit and the Pendulum, Fortress, Castle Freak, and Robot Jox. Plus, I love his violent dramas Edmond, King of the Ants, and Stuck (horror fans will appreciate all 3 of these twisted films).

Dario Argento: As much as I appreciate his stylish "Animal Trilogy", it's his horror heyday that cemented him as one the most influential, oft imitated horror directors. Deep Red, Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebre, Phenomena, and Opera all exhibit his trend-setting use of lighting, outrageous camera work, and juxstaposing scenes of jarring violence and gore with beautiful sets design and scenery. While his best work is behind him, I also enjoyed The Stendhal Syndrome, Sleepless, Trauma, and The Mother of Tears (a flawed, but relentlessly violent conclusion to his 3 Mothers trilogy).

David Cronenberg: One of the most unconventional horror directors, Cronenberg's peculiar brand of "bod horror" always manages to make you uncomfortable and a bit nauseous. They Came From Within (Shivers), Rabid, The Brood (one of my favorites), Scanners, Videodrome (another favorite), The Dead Zone, The Fly (who doesn't love this one? Easily on par with Carepenter's The Thing as one of the best remakes of all time), and Dead Ringers are all winners from his heydey. His output since then has proved to be equally as interesting, violent, and disturbing with Naked Lunch, Crash (THIS flippin' movie...), eXistenZ, A History of Violence, and Eastern Promises all worthy of your consideration.

MY favourite thing about Argento is his use of violence set to beautiful backdrops. Deep Red and the scene in the castle springs to mind. It's all too well having horrors set in grimy warehouses or basements but when there is stunning beauty it makes the violence or disturbing imagery all the more effective.

Though it's mentioned a lot, the opening murdes of Suspiria were what made me a fan in my late teens. I rented the VHS with the promise that "The only thing more terrifying than the first ten minutes, are the next 90" (or something to that effect). Just the framing of the girls' bodies against that beautiful skylight and floor were enough to give me pause and realize for the first time that death and horror could be art.

Re: Favorite 3 Horror Directors

The italian directors are superior when it comes to images and visual beauty. Helps that italy is such a beautiful country and has a gorgeous language too. I adore the Asian directors for using beautiful soundtracks that have classical music while attacking visually with brutal violence.

Re: Favorite 3 Horror Directors

This a tricky question for me. I would hate to choose directors that have simply made great films. I really enjoy creativity when it comes to camera movements and such.

For that reason some of my favorites would be...

Sam Raimi -- he may be the most creative director when it came to his directing style, he did some crazy stuff with the camera to drawl his audience in and make them feel more like they were in the movie.

Peter Jackson -- very much like Raimi, he started with micro budget films with over the top gore. Bit what really stood out to me about Bad Taste was the creative and fluid camera movements and always interesting choice of shots.

Ryuhei Kitamura -- he directed Versus and Midnight Meat Train, and if you have seen them then you know there is nothing conventional about his filmmaking style.

Carpenter is awesome, some of his films are among my favorites, bit he takes a simplistic approach to filming. Don't get me wrong, its much like Hitchcock and I love it also. Wide, steady and sometimes lingering shots can create great atmosphere. A lot of my favorite directors take this approach also, such as Cronenberg and Romero.

Re: Favorite 3 Horror Directors

Re: Favorite 3 Horror Directors

Maxwell wrote:

Stuart Gordon: His horror films (Re-animator, From Beyond, Dolls, Dagon) are full of energy, black humor, and rank among my favorites. His Masters of Horror entries, The Black Cat Dreams in the Witch House, are among the best in that series. I even like some of his lesser work like The Pit and the Pendulum, Fortress, Castle Freak, and Robot Jox. Plus, I love his violent dramas Edmond, King of the Ants, and Stuck (horror fans will appreciate all 3 of these twisted films).

Dario Argento: As much as I appreciate his stylish "Animal Trilogy", it's his horror heyday that cemented him as one the most influential, oft imitated horror directors. Deep Red, Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebre, Phenomena, and Opera all exhibit his trend-setting use of lighting, outrageous camera work, and juxstaposing scenes of jarring violence and gore with beautiful sets design and scenery. While his best work is behind him, I also enjoyed The Stendhal Syndrome, Sleepless, Trauma, and The Mother of Tears (a flawed, but relentlessly violent conclusion to his 3 Mothers trilogy).

David Cronenberg: One of the most unconventional horror directors, Cronenberg's peculiar brand of "bod horror" always manages to make you uncomfortable and a bit nauseous. They Came From Within (Shivers), Rabid, The Brood (one of my favorites), Scanners, Videodrome (another favorite), The Dead Zone, The Fly (who doesn't love this one? Easily on par with Carepenter's The Thing as one of the best remakes of all time), and Dead Ringers are all winners from his heydey. His output since then has proved to be equally as interesting, violent, and disturbing with Naked Lunch, Crash (THIS flippin' movie...), eXistenZ, A History of Violence, and Eastern Promises all worthy of your consideration.

I've got to see more of Cronenbergs movies. I saw Shivers because it was showing on Comcast Fearnet and that movie is fucking awesome. Just something about the setup and the feeling of dread at that damn hotel. I have also seen Dead Zone and really love The Fly.